Capela de Nossa Senhora da Saúde
Why is it significant?
This little chapel, with its simple white front and stone doorway, stands right at the mouth of Rua da Mouraria, as if it were guarding the entrance to the neighbourhood. It looks modest. It is one of the most loved buildings in this part of Lisbon.
Key Facts
| Place | Capela de Nossa Senhora da Saúde |
|---|---|
| Address | Rua da Mouraria, 1100-341 Lisboa, Portugal |
| Geo Coordinates | 38.71540, -9.13600 |
| Part of Walk | Mouraria, Cradle of Fado: From Maria Severa to Amália in Lisbon |
| Generated | Generated |
This little chapel, with its simple white front and stone doorway, stands right at the mouth of Rua da Mouraria, as if it were guarding the entrance to the neighbourhood. It looks modest. It is one of the most loved buildings in this part of Lisbon.
The chapel was built in the sixteenth century and first dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the protector against plague. That choice was not abstract. In 1569 Lisbon was struck by one of the worst epidemics in its history, remembered as the Great Plague, and tens of thousands of people are thought to have died. When it finally passed, the city gave thanks, and from 1570 a procession set out from here in honour of Our Lady of Health, Nossa Senhora da Saúde.
That procession has been held, with interruptions, for more than four centuries, and it is often called the oldest in Lisbon. Every year the image is carried out of this door and through the streets, with brass bands, soldiers, priests and the whole neighbourhood in its best clothes. Old ladies watch from the windows, and the sound of the bands echoes off the walls.
The chapel has outlived a great deal. It is said to have come through the 1755 earthquake, and it certainly survived the twentieth century demolitions that flattened the houses around it. In a quarter where so much was taken away, people treat it as proof that Mouraria is still here.
For fado, this kind of place matters more than you might expect. Fado is a song of fate, of loss, of saudade, that untranslatable longing for something gone. Its singers grew up between the tavern and the chapel, between the procession and the street party, and their songs are full of saints, mothers, candles and sins. Now follow Rua da Mouraria uphill and bear left into Rua do Capelão, about one hundred and fifty metres, to the street where the first star of fado lived and died.